Gordon in position to run down 5th Winston Cup title

Halfway through the season, he's suddenly third in the point standings, poised for a run at a fifth Winston Cup. So monitor your blood pressure.

(Oh, you know you love it. You know you were bored senseless last year when he wasn't really in the hunt, and it robbed your lungs of needed exercise.)

You'll be especially displeased to learn that he has never seemed cooler, more content and at ease--chilled and ready to pounce on the slightest bobble by points leader Matt Kenseth or second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., both inexperienced at driving down the stretch run to a championship.

He senses that you've mellowed in the grandstands.

"Yes, there is a difference" nowadays in the response to him, he says. That's nice, because "that's not why I'm out there, to make the fans go against one another or to have more to cheer about [such as when his car breaks down] or whatever."

So if you're still out there in big numbers, you'd better get back to work.

You could be motivated as early as Sunday's Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. You'll have to give it all you have for the boos to be heard above the cheers as the NASCAR tour begins a major swing through the Midwest and Northeast for the next several weeks.

See, there are people in the Midwest who actually like Gordon, because the California native moved to Indiana as a teenager to pursue his racing career, and he's considered a homeboy by the region.

Gordon figures he's fallen only a few breaks short of winning in the two Winston Cup races run at the Joliet track thus far. He finished second to Kevin Harvick last year. And in that same two-year span, he's won both races at Chicagoland's fraternal if not identical twin track near Kansas City.

"We've run well in both Chicago races," he says. "The first year we had a little engine trouble. But Chicago and Kansas City are tracks where we've hit on some things that the car really likes, and that I really like.

"We've been very competitive on that type track. So I'm looking forward to going back there."

Winning races outright, in big numbers, is no longer Gordon's overwhelming motive, as it was when he was dominating in the 1990s--for example, his record 13-win championship season of '97.

"This year I feel like we're capable of winning that championship, and that's all that really matters to me," he says. "That's what makes me happy. It doesn't have to be a dominant performance. There just needs to be a No. 1 at the end.

"Winning helps and cures a lot of things. And it brings a lot of joy to being out there competing.

"But winning is not what's going to make me happy in life. That's one of the things I've certainly learned."

The last obstacle to his complete happiness, a yearlong divorce proceeding with his wife of seven years, Brooke, was settled in June. It cost him a reported $15.3 million, but, hey . . .

"It's a huge burden lifted off my shoulders just to get that behind me and move on," he says. "Other than that, I don't want to talk about it much. I just want to focus on what's ahead."

In that direction, all looks bright.

"I'm having a good time," he says. "Life is good. And I'm very happy with the way things are for me right now."

He has about $30 million left in reported net worth, with his resurgence on the tracks promising plenty more to come. In August he'll turn 32--just hitting his prime as a NASCAR racer, if the precedent of other drivers' careers holds for him.

In the current standings, "Where we're sitting, we're in good shape," he says. "Being 203 points back [behind leader Matt Kenseth, and 23 behind Earnhardt Jr.] is not a big deal."

"Not that you wish any bad luck on anybody, but he hasn't had any," Gordon points out. "It's really how you come through those tough times, those bad-luck days, that determines whether you become champion.

"It really comes down to that bad day instead of all those good days. If he keeps doing what he's doing, it's going to be hard to catch him. But you've just got to think that the percentages can catch up with you.

"And then it's our job to capitalize on it, if it happens."

To capitalize, to follow through on the run for a fifth title--which would close in on the record of seven career championships shared by the late Dale Earnhardt and the retired Richard Petty--Gordon knows his team still needs some tweaking.

"We've been a little inconsistent and I want to improve on that," he says. "Track position is one of the biggest cures. But today, with the setups we have--all the downforce and all that stuff--it seems like you either hit [a winning setup] it or you don't."